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“Is it likeCheers? Working in a bar?” I ask.
Bea laughs toothily. “No, not at all. I mean, it’s true everyone knows your name, but there’s not nearly as many hijinks, sadly.”
“Good for me, I guess,” I say and swig my beer. “In my experience, more hijinks means more calls to the cops.”
Bea’s hazel eyes flash. “To my bar? Never.”
“Yourbar?”
She rolls her eyes. “Mama’s bar. Mine someday. Whenever she gets tired of micromanaging.”
“Who’s Willie?”
The corner of Bea’s mouth deepens. “The guy my mom bought it from.”
“Due for a rename, then?”
Her smile grows, Cheshire Cat-like with mischief. “People get up in arms about any change around here. If it ain’t broke…”
“Fair. That’s fair. At least you’re keeping it in the family. ”
Bea grabs another cloth and begins buffing a spot on the bar that didn’t look like it needed buffing. “That’s everything around here,” she says with a sigh.
I glance back at my table. Everything around here is “all in the family” as it were. Ed’s dad was chief of police before him. Colleen’s brother is a detective a few towns over. And Stewart… well, he’s just Stewart. Don’t know his deal yet. “You sound a little… annoyed by that,” I say.
“Not annoyed. Just gets old,” Bea says with a small shrug. “You know, you’re born here, you die here. It’s your destiny.”
Sounds more like she thinks it’s a curse from the tone of her voice. “It must be kinda nice to know everybody though, right?”
“I take it you’re not from a small town, Sheriff,” she says.
“Nope. Chicago. South side Irish born and raised,” I say.
“And you left that all behind for here?” Bea asks with raised eyebrows.
I swallow. “I… have my reasons.” Reasons I’m not willing to go into with a bartender I’ve just met who I’m sure has these kinds of conversations on the daily with anyone who passes by.
Bea tilts her head to the side. “Well, when everyone knows everyone, everyone knows everyone’s business, too.” Her eyes flick to Thad. “Thad’s wife left him ten years ago, and ever since, he can only sleep during the day.” Then, she nods to the table of my compatriots. “Ed’s dad resigned as police chief in order to avoid a public scandal that involved him siphoning off funds from the precinct.”
I do a double take to Ed. I can’t imaginehimbeing capable of something like that, the jolly guy with bad jokes, but I guess anyone is capable of anything.
“Stewart Jensen doesn’t drink because the one time he did, he toilet papered the mayor’s house but passed out midway through, so he was found face-down in the bushes.”
Poor, sweet Stewart. No wonder he’s an anxious mess.
“And Colleen?—”
“Is your best friend, so you’re not going to spill the beans on her.”
Bea’s eyebrows raise. “You’re catching on.”
“Guess I am.”
Gnashing her lower lip with her teeth, Bea narrows her eyes on me. Sizing me up or zeroing in. Not sure which is worse. “So what’s the deal with you and Constance Chaplin?”
I audibly balk. “Uh—what?”
Bea laughs, another big one. “People talk, Sheriff.”
